I haven't seen this yet, but my State Library for the blind has descriptive
videos on DVD's, and they have them in such a way that when you put a DVD
in, the descriptions come up automatically. This sounds great, and I watch
these in a movie theater that has video description on headsets that are
provided that give these prescriptions.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kane Brolin" <kbroli...@gmail.com>
To: <j...@freelists.org>
Cc: "Blind iPod Mailing List" <blindi...@freelists.org>;
<pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 4:41 PM
Subject: Descriptive Video on Commercial DVDs and Downloads
Hi, folks.
I'm probably about to ask a question that's painfully obvious to many.
But I'm showing up at the descriptive video/SAP party much later than
some. I'm writing to the JAWS list because I am a JAWS user. I'm
writing to the Blind iPod list because purchasing video content on
iTunes is now accessible through use of the J-tunes interface. So I
hope others view this question as at least somewhat relevant.
I'm presuming, first of all, that most Hollywood feature films on DVD
come with a descriptive video track encoded somewhere on them. I'm
presuming the same could be true with downloadable films and TV shows,
too, as from iTunes. Certainly, most DVDs representing TV programs
where action was described in the first place, should have that same
DVS output on the subsequent DVD release. If this is true, I'm
wondering about the following:
1. How can I be sure, if a film or TV show is downloaded, to get the
download version that has descriptive video encoded? Is there a good
source for such material? Is there a way I can know for sure about
this feature before I buy?
2. When playing such downloaded or DVD content on the computer, is
there a software player that is fairly accessible and which also has a
menu option I can invok for activating or turning off the
descriptions? I've not seen this in RealPlayer or Windows Media
Player, but maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
3. Am I being completely naive here? Obviously, I know a lot of
stuff isn't accessible on its face, and I realize legislation in front
of Congress is attempting to make much of this universal. I've heard
of some people going to a place like the Serotek network to download
versions of films that have been uploaded specifically for those
wanting video description. But is this truly necessary? Or can the
same content be obtained through regular channels with just a little
bit of work on the part of the blind consumer?
Just trying to get a handle on this issue, for my own benefit and for
others I may encounter.
Kind regards,
-Kane
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